AMHERST -- In the final minute of University of Massachusetts men's basketball's 85-83 loss to No. 22 Rhode Island, Luwane Pipkins tried to earn a pair of controversial calls.

The first was an attempted offensive foul, with UMass trailing by two and 10.1 seconds remaining. As Rhode Island senior Jared Terrell curled toward the inbounder, Pipkins stepped in the way and took a hit, falling down hard. The officials didn't buy it.

The second came in the final two seconds -- Rhode Island went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line to go back up by three, and the Rams fouled with 1.8 seconds left, sending Pipkins back to the line. He made the first and missed the second, but as he darted toward the basket for the offensive rebound, the officials blew the play dead due to a lane violation.

"I mean, those were just two calls," Pipkins said. "The violation was probably a violation. The charge, I kind of sold it a little bit, but I knew the ref wasn't going to call it. But I tried to do it anyway."

He was close on both. The lane violation looked like it could have gone either way. The potential charge looked even closer.

Did McCall think he took it?

"Absolutely," McCall said. "But listen, you're talking about officials out there that have reffed Final Fours. ... That's one of the best officiating crews we've had all year."

Rams coach Dan Hurley agreed with the lane violation.

"It was a great crew," he said. "I didn't think they were going to miss that. You're not even allowed to do that in the school yard."

For his part, McCall was less focused on the officiating and much more focused on making sure his team didn't take Tuesday's game as a moral victory.

"The standard is not to lose by 2, or 20, or 30, or 12," McCall said. "The standard is to win. If each and every guy on our team could go back and replay the game in their head, and there was one more opportunity to make a play ... I think everybody on our team could go through and pick one or two plays that they could have made that they didn't. That's the difference right now between winning or losing."

The Minutemen made it clear early that Tuesday's game would be more competitive than their first matchup against Rhode Island less than two weeks previously -- a 73-51 loss which might not have even been that close.

On Tuesday, UMass jumped on top early, using 3-pointers by Carl Pierre and C.J. Anderson to take a stunning 25-12 lead at the 12:48 mark.

But Rhode Island had an emphatic answer -- the Rams went on a 21-2 run over the next six minutes to take a six-point lead, capped off by a steal and a layup by E.C. Matthews.

Terrell found the silver lining in Rhode Island's tendency to start slow.

"We know that's not ideal for us, but I think it puts us in a great spot to see where we're at," Terrell said. "We'd rather not start slow. We want to start fast and get going, but to be able to dig down and get back up, I think that shows what we're made of."

UMass fell behind by as many as seven in the first half before a spurt by Pipkins helped bring them back within swinging distance, and Pipkins' step-back triple to end the half cut the deficit to three.

In the second half, however, Rhode Island's superior depth began to show. The Rams took their first double-digit lead with 10:07 left on a 3-pointer by Fatts Russell and stretched the advantage as high as 14 with 3:39 left on a pair of free throws by Jarvis Garrett.

But the Minutemen refused to go away quietly.

"Credit to UMass, Matt's done a heck of a job the whole year," Hurley said. "You could see the culture of competitiveness he's instilling in the program, and I thought their guys played great today, led by Pipkins, who's one of the better guards we've faced all year."

UMass trimmed the deficit to nine on a three by Pierre with 2:13 left. Pipkins forced a steal and passed ahead to Anderson, who found Hines for a layup. After both teams exchanged free-throws, a layup by Anderson with just under a minute remaining cut the advantage to five. In the final 45 seconds, Rhode Island went 1-for-2 at the line three times, which gave UMass a couple of Hail Mary opportunities, which they couldn't quite complete.

"I was proud of our fight, I was proud we didn't quit, especially late in the game," McCall said. "But again: The difference between winning and losing is one play here or there."

Pipkins finished with 27 points on 8-for-14 shooting and four assists. Hines pitched in 18 points and six boards, while Pierre notched 16 points, including 4-for-8 shooting from behind the arc. Anderson posted 15 points and four assists.

"I'm not trying to knock my teammates, but we can't just play to our level of competition when big games come around," Pipkins said. "We've got to do it every game. We've got to beat the teams we're supposed to beat. We've just got to play harder. Those guys doing that, it relieved a lot of pressure off me, but we have to do it every night."